The Ancients: Remembering the Past
Maya civilization, and cultural ties between
ancient Mexico and the United States.
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The ancient Maya created the most advanced civilization in the New World. |
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| Between 500 B.C. and the Spanish Conquest of 1519, powerful Maya kingdoms such as Palenque occupied present-day Chiapas, Yucatan, Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador. |
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| The Maya forged strong political and commercial alliances with the civilizations of central Mexico. Through long-distance trade, luxury goods as well as pan-Mesoamerican beliefs eventually reached the Anasazi people of the American Southwest and Native American tribes living east of the Mississippi River. |
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Writers, sculptors, astronomers, and mathematicians, the Maya left behind a great body of art and hieroglyphic literature. |  |
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Their books and stone inscriptions record the movements of the stars, the deeds of the gods, and the history of divine kings and queens.
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| The eighth century painted murals at Bonampak depict exquisite scenes of music, dance, and theater. |
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| When the Spanish conquistadores arrived in Chiapas in 1528, they took the Indians’ land, forced them to adopt Christianity, and forbade the Maya to read and write. | |||||
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The friars condemned Maya hieroglyphic writing -- the most complex phonetic script in the world -- as the work of the devil. | ||||
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Hundreds of books on astronomy, religion, and philosophy were destroyed. A long and noble history was obliterated. |
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Few Maya today are aware of their Precolumbian past. After 500 years of silence, Sna Jtz’ibajom is reviving the literary and cultural legacy of their ancestors, preserving the history of their “Fathers-Mothers” for future generations. |
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